Hjörleifshöfði

“Tuff island” (221 m) on the southwest of Mýrdalssandur. This was a coastal headland until the 14th century, when the shore began to advance as deposits piled up after glacial floods from Mt. Katla. Hjörleifshöfði (“Hjörleifur’s Headland”) is named after first settler Ingólfur Arnarson’s foster-brother, who was killed by his slaves during their first year in Iceland. Hjörleifshöfði, the product of a submarine eruption during an Ice Age interglacial, was inhabited up until this century.